Burning Time

April Woo #1

by Leslie Glass, Jane E. Lawder

A serial killer leaves a college coed to die in the California desert, his signature of fire seared into her flesh....

A beautiful Chinese-American detective, recently transferred from Chinatown to the Upper West Side, is assigned a routine missing-persons case...

A famous doctor returns home from a lecture to discover that his actress wife has been living a secret life....

Now, the paths of the cop, the killer, and the psychiatrist are about to converge....

A savage killer is on the loose in New York City.  His calling card is a tattoo of flames; his trail of victims leads from the scorched sands of Californa to the blistering heart of Manhattan.

Only Detective April Woo can block this vicious madman's next move.  And with the help of psychiatrist Jason Frank, this NYPD policewoman will prove that the predator she's hunting is no ordinary killer--but then, April Woo is no ordinary cop.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Thriller, Procedural

Audio

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

LESLIE GLASS's new book, the Mother Daughter Relationship Makeover is a memoir and exploration of the issues that drive mothers and daughters (and also sons) apart. Her experience as founder and editor of Reach Out Recovery, the online wellness and recovery magazine, inspired her to move beyond her beloved April Woo mystery series and focus on helping people by writing recovery books for people of all ages. Since 2011, she has produced two award winning documentaries, The Secret World of Recovery, and The Silent Majority and developed a website with followers from all over the globe wanting to know more about addiction, recovery, relationships, and health. Reach Out Recovery has more than 1500 original articles.

In her early career Leslie worked in publishing and has written for a variety of media. She was a journalist at New York magazine and a short-story and feature writer for Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Own in Great Britain. A playwright and the author of the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring NYPD Detective Sergeant April Woo, Glass is also the author of Over His Dead Body, Sleeper, The Teen Guide to Health, Find Your True Colors in 12 Steps, The 8 C's That Help Me Be All Right.
She lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Series
* April Woo Mystery

Reviews

[Laz the Sailor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago. I think I liked it.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first of eighth April Woo mysteries, "Burning Time", first appeared in 1993. A wordy effort that does not hold up well over the test of time. The plot seemed to get lost with in itself several times. The plot wasted several chapters as it bounced from San Diego to NYC. Most of the characters were particularly unlikable as they were wooden. I have the second book in this series already on my Kindle. However it'll be a long while until I get to it. I'm curious why author Leslie Glass stopped writing this series in 2001 and moved onto other things. Supposedly this was going to be a huge TV-Detective series in the mid 90's. I can see why that never came to fruition. Two stars out of a possible five stars for, "Burning Time", from author Leslie Glass. Leave this one on the book shelf.

[Redfox5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is why I love Bookcrossing. The only reason I read this book is because it happened to be on the wishlist of my easter exchange partner. It featured a woman called April, Easter is in April so I thought it would fit with the theme and I hate to let a book go that I haven't read just in case I missed something.

And I would have missed something if I had seen this in a bookstore because I wouldn't have even picked it up. I can take or leave crime novels and nothing about this cover screams read me. I am glad that the fates brought me to this book because it it was well worth a read. Full of likable characters, a decent plot and twisted bad guy. I had trouble putting this down. I hope to read more about April Woo in the future :)

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

REALLY GOOD!!! Very creepy - I was up all night!!! Makes one rethink getting a tatoo....

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit gruesome, but this book got me hooked on the series. April has depth gained through the multiple conflicts in her life. She's a woman in a man's business - police work. Recently transferred from the Chinatown station, she's the only Asian American in her new station in NYC. She has a constant internal struggle of her American values against her Chinese upbringing. Finally, she has conflict in living flesh, her mother, whom she dubs Skinny Dragon.

No shortage of character development here, plus a twisted plot and plenty of police procedure, which I like for some reason (maybe because I wanted to be a lawyer at one point in my life).

[Sandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The character April Woo was very likeable. I managed to read 3 in this series and have not been able to locate any others to this point. I read enjoy reading on my iPad....iBooks, Kobo or Kindle. I like them all.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

diffently a very good story,i read the book in two days,

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this 1st April Woo book. I'm looking forward to reading the rest. Very interesting learning about the detective's Chinese culture.

[Vfields Don't touch my happy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this hard-boiled detective series. Woo is trapped between her Asian heritage and the rest of the world she tries to keep safe.

[Hildegart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like strong female characters and was excited to see a lead character that wasn't a caucasian. It made the book seem a little more realistic to me.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: a Chinese-American detective is assigned a routine missing-persons case but she will soon learn a savage killer is on the loose.

[KerJo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to family dynamics in Chinese-American families along with realistic mysteries

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the April Woo series. It felt choppy and disorganized.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar to Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, but less graphic in the torture, brutality, violence and murder scenes, which is a good thing. Sometimes Harry Bosch novels are way too overboard, and the violence can be shocking. I enjoyed BURNING TIME because the violence is graphic but not overwhelming. It is told from three viewpoints: Manhattan detective April Woo who is new to the precinct and is assigned missing persons cases; psychiatrist Jason Frank whose wife, Emma, is kidnapped; and psychopathic killer Troland Grebs who is obsessed with Emma and wants to torture and kill her. The chapters are short but tell the story line chronologically and in detail. The climax is violent and exciting. The few drawbacks are that April does not dominate the plot like Harry Bosch; it is Jason who does most of the leg work and investigation to the point where he profiles the killer and identifies exactly where he is hiding Emma. The epilogue seems to foresee a future between April and fellow detective Mike Sanchez; however, it does not bring closure to Jason and Emma who disappear from the story line immediately after Emma is rescued.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

After finding the last in the series in a free book pile at the library book store, I was interested to trace the beginnings of the romance between the Chinese-American and Hispanic characters. If this were taking place in Hawaii, nobody would think anything of an Asian in a position of power (Asians are in the majority here). The murderer is suitably creepy and evil, and everything is pretty well tied together at the end.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new mystery with an Asian-American female detective (in love with a Hispanic partner) and, working from a different direction, a WASP psychiatrist who has drifted away from his wife. Fun, a little violent in its descriptions. The description of the villain made me shudder.

I thought S.J. Rozan’s series was much better—and more reflective of the Asian Americans born in this country that I know.

2020 note: But I’m white, so my experience is limited.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a definite edge-of-your-seat mystery. Without giving away any ending, you won't be particularly comfortable reading this, but I guarantee you will want to see how it ends. I lost a lot of sleep one night with this book in the back of my head and had to continue reading it very early in the morning until I finished it.

You won't be disappointed.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earlier Sanchez and Woo, the first maybe? They tantalize each other, still learning how to work together and why they should trust each other. The madman is truly psychopathic and Dr. Jason Frank makes his chops with the cops who listen closely.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

it's a no for me. I really could not get more than 1/4 of the way in. the sexual violence and the thought process of the "bad guy" were too descriptive for me. I just don't need to crawl to that level of depravity. Less is more, but this was more over the top, skin crawling, makes me want to puke.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first experience with Leslie Glass and her detective April Woo--
Solid crime fiction.

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had to pick a word to describe this book, that word would be "okay".

It's not great, but it's not terrible either. It's just okay.

At times it's rather graphic and crude, at others it has character dialogue that seems straight out of someones fan fiction novel, yet it also has a pretty decent plot amongst that, and a reasonable story to tell.

The story is that of April Woo Chinese-American detective, and boy does the author spend a lot of time really drilling into you about how she's Chinese-American, to the detriment of the story's momentum I thought. Anyway, it's the story of April Woo, detective investigating a mission persons case which dovetails with the case of an actress, who recently starred in a sexually graphic art film, receiving creepy letters that have her psychologist husband rather concerned. There's also a rather unstable man who likes to torture and burn women.

For all the descriptive nature within the novel, unfortunately the ending felt rather brisk. I have the full set of the nine books in this series however at this point I'm not sure whether they'll be staying or going out the window, this wasn't exactly a nail biter and at times I was putting it down to stare out the window at birds flying by which is something I usually don't do when reading.

So yes, there's a decent story buried within the pages of this book, but there's quite a bit of chaff around it.

[Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

CBS developing series based on book series. Like the main character, female detective April Woo, very much. She is challenged with juggling the old Chinese ways of living and also being a young female detective working in a mostly male environment. The crime itself, however, seemed unnecessarily violent and it kept going on and on. Much sexual description as well involving the crime, but not the detectives. Detective Woo has a young Hispanic cop 'wooing' her, so there are some interracial relationship issues going on as well.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st in April Woo series -- April is NYC CHinese Dewtective on upper Westside. A college girl is missing, murdered in the desert near San Diego. Dr.Frank a psychotherapist returns home from a lecture to find that his wife, an actres, has starred in an almost-porn film & now being stalked via letters. Frank is out in San Diego tracking his wife's stalker & April is looking into the murder of the college girl.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serial killer books aren't really my thing, and this one unfortunately offers little to change that opinion. The characters feel like cardboard cutouts more than people, the plot-critical events are too often based on luck rather than reasoning, and what reasoning there is doesn't pass the smell test. Overall, probably not worth the minimal effort it requires.

[Hildy Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade: B-

I enjoy Glass's April Woo character finding the relationship dynamics interesting on several levels- racial, familial, and the interplay with colleagues. I have read the novels out of order, reading this first novel at the end of the series. It was not as exciting and tense as other Woo novels, but still very enjoyable.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I've just started reading about Det April Woo. Her struggles about being a woman detective, small and CHINESE! When she gets this first no nothing case and then it leads into something more. She takes the lead and works hard trying to solve it. I also like to hear about her family life. Her mother is a funny character. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Smoochys · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book based on the reviews of others who had read it. It should be noted that I did not finish the book, so it could have gotten better, I just didn't think it was worth my time trying to find out.

[Daelith]

Just couldn't get interested in this one. Made it to page 54 before calling it quits.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a chilling and interesting look at a case of a serial killer through the eyes of Sergeant April Woo the woman assigned to the case.

[Joe O'Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good; Continuing Character: April Woo; detective and psychologist search for the doctor's wife, kidnapped by a crazy who tattoos and brands his captives.